Railway-car retarder



Oct. 14, 1930. H L, BONE 1,778,519

RAILWAY CAR RETARDER Filed June 2o, 1928` 2 sheets-sheet 1 5a l l 4]/Il'b @915.

H.A. .Bo/1e,

RAILWAY CAR RBTARDER Filed June 20, 1928 2 sheets-smet 2 INVENTOR: HA-Bne, Qm,

HERBERT L. BONE, or swIssvALn, PENNSYLVANIA,.nssrGNoR'rroPTHEUNroNsWrrcH' PENNSYLVANIA, AiconroRATIoN or PEN-N- Patented Oct. 14, 1930Ncurr-rn. :STATES PTENT GFF-FICE jagsIGNAL COMPANY, or swIssvALnyYaYLvnNm l MvApplication V'.iled .T une 20,

My invention relates i to railway car retardersfthe type-involving abrake beam locatedybesideI a track rail-and movable vtoward and f away4from the rail to; engage` the wheels of a car ,and thereby retard themotion of the ear. In retarders of this character it is desirable thatthe wheel engaging surface of the brake bea-1n1should Contact withthewheel as far abovethe railas possible, that is, as close to the wheelylaxle as possible, because the further above the rail this engagement ofthe beam takes place the greater will be the retardingeffect forga giventorceexerted on the. retarder beam. One :feature ,of my invention is theprovision of a car retarder wherein thebralte beam, when it comes incontact witha car wheel, swings yupwardly due tothe pressure betweenthebeam and the wheel, sof that `the wheel engaging surface of the brakebeam lrises and Vbears en the car wheelat a higher pontthan if the brakebeam remained the same horizontal plane.

I lwill describefseveralforms of carretarders embodying my' invention,yand will then point out the novel features thereofin claims. i

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. l -is a transverse sectional viewshowing one form of car retarder embodying. my inventiomthepartsfbeingin thepositions which they occupy when the retarder is closedbut when it is notoccupied by .a car wheel.. YFi`g. 2 is aview-similarsto Fig.V 1 showing the parts inthepo'sitions they occupywhenthe retarder is closedandis occupied `by a car wheel; ,Fig. 3 is .aview 'showing lanother form of retarder embodyingfmyinvention. Flg. 4isfafvlewshowlngY a modiicatlon of the retarder shown in Fig. 1 andembodying my invention.V Fig. 5 is a view; showing a modification of theretarder shown in Fig. 3 and embodying my invention.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of theseveral views.

Referring first toFig. 1, the reference character-l designates atraclrrail, and the refer? 3 having. a wheel-,engaging surface 3a. The

'NA'IrvvAY-onn` RETARDER 192s. "serial No. 287,008.

brakesbeam l2 slides' toward and away Afrom the rail 1 on a iXed'guideor plate 4, and the brake beamis provided withy twov spaced horizontal.arms 2a and 2b, ,which Aarmsare provided with holes 2& to receive-a`vertical pin 8. ThisvpinS passes vertically through the head of aneyebolt 5y having a shank 5 which is horizontally disposed .and whichpasses through a holef in the vertical arm cfa` driving angle 9.l yThefree end `ofthe shank 5 isv threaded to receive` a; nut I10, which bearsagainst'thefoutside surface Vof .the drivin-g angle 9. A washer 6surrounds the shank' 5a and rests against the head ,of the eyebolt ;5,and-,a coiledspring `is interposed .between this washer and the verticalarm ofthe 'driv ingv angle 19. The driving angle -9 is 1 moved towardand away `from the .tnack rail 1 by suitable operating :mechanism havingnothing to do with my present inventionfand it thepositions in which'they are showinV in F ig.

2, -whereinf the reference character W designates 1the car f wheeloccupying-the. retarder.

lIt 'will be seen from Fig..2, thatwwhenthe oar wheel) forces its way.into the retarder, the Abeam 2rswings in counterelockwise direction,dueto; thefact that the centerline of ressure between f the wheel.andthe l,brake eam is above the eenterrline o'f thefbraking forceapplied .to the brake beamby the `pin 8. The result of thismovement isthat. theiwheelfengagging surface 3a: contacts Y withY the wheelat`a'higherpoint,than if .the brake beam2were to remain in thel positionin which it is shown i-nFig. 1,-with the.result that agreatermetardingsetfectfis.attained for, a given amount of forcenapplied ,to the drivingA angle 9.

The `wheel;engaging.surface 3? Vis preferably beveled at such angle fromthe vertical that this surface is in al vertical plane when the beam 2is swung into the position in which it is shown in F ig. 2, so thatduring the retarding operation the surface 3a makes flat contact withthe side of the car Wheel.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the brake beam, which is here designated by thereference character 11, is provided with a heel 11c and a toe 11". Thetoe 11b coacts with a lip 133iFL on av hold-down strap 13 in such mannerthat when the brake beam is in the closed position the toe is under thelip 13, but that there is considerable clearance between the toe and thelip. rlChe result of this is that the beam. 11 can be swung incounter-clockwise direction around the heel 11c as a center to allow thewheel-engaging surface 3 to rise vertically The amount of this angularmovement of the brake beam is, of course, limited by the engagement ofthe toe 11b with the lip 13a. In the form shown in Fig. 3, the brakebeam 11 is provided with a slot 11a to receive the upper end of adriving arm 12 which is pivotally mounted at an intermediate point 12a.The lower end of the driving arm is connected at 12b with suitableoperating mechanism which forms no part of my present invention.

Referring now to Fig. 4, the retarder structure shown in this view isthe same as that shown in Fig. 1, except that the pin 8 makes a tightfit in the holes 2C of the brake beam 2, and the shank 5:l of theeyebolt 5 is made of spring material so that this shank may be deflectedvertically to permit the brake beam 2 to swing upwardly in response toengagement with a car wheel.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the retarder structure shown in this view isthe same as that shown in Fig. 3, except that the clearance between thetoe 11b and the lip 13"L is eliminated and the hold-down strap 13 ismade of fleXible material, so that the lip 13"L may be deflectedupwardly to permit the brake beam 11 to swing in counter-clockwisedirection as before.

With a car retarder constructed in accordancewith my invention, thebrake beam when in the open position is not far enough above the rail tointerfere with locomotive counterbalance weights, low bearing bolts, orother parts on the rolling stock. When the beam is in the closed orretarding position, however, and a wheel is in the retarder, the beamtips in such manner as to raise the wheel-engaging surface withoutmaterially increasing the height above the rail at the pointl whereparts of the rolling stock might interfere. If a locomotive should gothrough the retarder while it is in 4closed position, the brake beamswill be forced downwardly without damage to themselves or to thelocomotive, and the same thing is true with a freight car having partswhich interfere with the brake beam when it is in elevated position. v

Although I have herein shown and described only a few forms of carretarders embodying my invention, it is understood that various changesand modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A railway carretarder comprising a brake beam located beside a track `rail andmovable toward and away from the rail, and means forpermitting said beamto swing so that its wheel engaging surface moves upwardly from itsnormal position when en gaged by a car wheel.

2. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail and pivotally mounted so that its wheel engaging surface may moveupwardly when engaged by a car wheel, and means for moving sailil beamtoward and away from the track rai Y 3. A railway car retardercomprising a brake beam located beside a track rail a pin passingthrough said beam with considerable clearance whereby the beam may beswung in a vertical plane due to engagement with a car wheel, and meansfor moving said pin toward and away from the track rail.

el. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside atrack rail and means includingaflexible member for moving said beamtoward and away from the track rail, the flexibility of said memberbeing such that the wheel engaging surface of said beam may moveupwardly from its normal position due to engagement with a car wheel.

5. A car retarder brake shoe having a wheel engaging surface beveled atan angle with the vertical.

6. A car retarder brake shoe having a wheel engaging surface beveled atan angle with the vertical to form a wheel engaging surface inclineddownwardly away from the rail when the shoe occupies its normalposition.

7. A car retarder brake shoe adapted to be rotated upon engagement witha car wheel,

said shoe being provided with a wheel engag- T115 ing surface beveled insuch manner that when said shoe is engaging said wheel, said surfacelies in a vertical plane.

8. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail and y movable toward and away from the rail, and means forpermitting said beam' to swing so that its wheel engaging surface movesupwardly fromfits normal position when engaged by a car wheel, saidwheel engaging surface being beveled at such angle from the verticalthat when said beam swings to its wheel-engaging position said surfaceis in a vertical plane.

9. A railway car retarder comprising a

